I am officially 26 weeks pregnant. For weeks, I've had this idea to include a chicken in my monthly pregnancy portrait. Thank you to my dear friend Lisa, who brought me a gorgeous chicken (named Trouble) and a pitchfork. Her daughter Becky was kind enough to take our photos. The idea was to do a modern version of Grant Wood's American Gothic painting. Dan was totally up for it. He loves his overalls; he said wearing them with a tie and a button up reminded him of his granddad. I LOVE the photo below. And Dan's tie.
This is Becky, demonstrating how to hold a bird on one hand. But the chicken didn't want to cooperate that much for me...
So instead, I tried to smooch Trouble, the chicken.
I edited the images that Becky took. I am loving the hazy, vintage, polaroid looking processing these days. Here is an example of the photo out of the camera and my Photoshop edits.
Realization. Seeing these photos helps me visualize that I am huge. My appetite is ferocious my cravings are for crazy food. I cannot get enough honeydew melon, TOO many peanut butter cups, raisin bran, fried fish, fried okra, sour cream, blow pop suckers and peach tea.
Time to slow down. All things in my life would be great, except... I have been having contractions since last Tuesday. My doc monitored my uterus and the baby, tested me for labor proteins (which were negative), got up close and personal with my cervix and did several lab tests. She was concerned with the strength and consistency of the contractions (I had over 40 on Tuesday) and told me that although there was no protein, I should take it easy for two weeks. Bed Rest. Laying in bed was fun for officially four hours. The contractions slowed WAY down, though, which is good. We need baby W to stay put for at least 11 more weeks. 8 episodes of 24, 3 books and much napping later, I am bored and ready for more books and a different series on TV.
Professionally. Editing images on the computer has proven to be pretty hard: I lay on my side and use one hand, but I manage to do a few hours each day. I go back to the doc next Tuesday to see if I am cleared to shoot. I am sure I will be as the contractions are down to 10 or so per day. Fingers crossed.